I was always intimidated to try making Chicken and Dumplings from scratch because my Mom’s were always SO GOOD that I thought it must be a lot of work. A few years ago I watched her make it and I was like, “Wait, that’s it?!” And I have been making it ever since! My boys love this meal and I love that it can be a super quick meal if you play your cards right!

In a large pot, melt butter over medium high heat. Mix in chopped onions, carrots, garlic and celery. Saute for a couple of minutes. Basically just to get the flavors blended and cook down the veggies a bit.

Add shredded chicken,*See note below* broth and seasonings.

Heat through until it comes to a light boil.

(Basically at this point, you have chicken soup. Add cooked noodles for chicken noodle soup. Or rice. Or nothing!)

To make dumplings, add the biscuit mix *See note below* and milk and stir until it makes a soft gooey dough. Drop into the soup. Don’t worry, the dumplings might sink at first. But they will come back up! Cook uncovered for ten minutes. Put a lid on and cook covered for ten more minutes. You can check the done-ness of the dumpling by splitting one open. If it’s fluffy and does not have a gooey center, it’s done!

**Here is where I say you can make this meal quick. I like to use chicken that has already been cooked and shredded from my freezer. This saves me a ton of time. I will also sometimes plan to cook my chicken in the crock pot and then use the broth left over right in the soup I’m making that night. If you do not have any on hand, you can still easily make this meal without a ton more effort. Just place some chicken in a pot of water and boil it. Once it’s cooked through you can shred it up. You can use some of the water as broth as well. Or take it a step farther and cook it low and slow all day with veggies and herbs right in the pot with the chicken to make a broth from scratch. For the biscuit topping, I like to make my own biscuit mix so making the dumplings is quick and easy. You could also just mix together any biscuit recipe together and use that. I like the consistency of the Bisquick dumplings. So I use my homemade version and follow the recipe for dumplings from their box.**

Heat oil. Add carrots and onion, cook till soft. Add garlic and
rosemary, cook about one minute. Stir in broth and zucchini, bring to a
boil. Reduce heat and simmer until zucchini is soft. Add tortellini
and tomatoes (and sausage if used) and cook about 6-10 minutes. Stir in vinegar just before
serving.

Mix everything except the beans in a Crock Pot. Cook on high for about 5 hours or on low for about 7 hours. But don’t worry if it’s in there longer, the meat will just fall apart which isn’t a bad thing! The only thing I found is that if it cooks for too long after the 5 or 7 hours, it will cook out some of the seasoning and you may need to re-spice it in the end.

Add beans in the last 15 minutes of cooking. I like to serve this over rice. So I’ll throw the beans in and then cook the rice and it’s all ready at the same time!

Of course, we served shredded cheese over the top as well as some chopped green onions.

Side note: Make double (leave out the beans and potatoes which don’t always freeze well) and stick in the freezer for future use!

Cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and place on a paper towel covered plate to let the grease drain off. Place onions into the same pan you cooked the bacon in and saute. (If there is a ton of grease, you may want to remove some of it first) Remove onions and drain on paper towels as well.

Add together the rice, soups and cheese in a medium size pot. Cook over medium heat. Stir until mixed through. Slowly add in half and half and milk. Simmer over medium low heat until cooked through and cheese is melted. Do not boil!

(I would prefer to have made the soup bases myself instead of using cans, but this time I didn’t have time. I plan on perfecting the recipe with some “from scratch” creamed soups.)

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring often for about 3 minutes. Slowly whisk in chicken broth just a little at a time, then whisk in milk the same way. Reduce heat to low and add cheese sauce. Stir and cook on low until all melted together. Stir in Rotel, chicken and spices. Heat through. Serve with crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese and sour cream.

Eat so quickly that you say to your husband, “WAIT! Don’t take another bite! Take a picture of your soup with your iPhone so I can post the recipe because I already scarfed mine down so fast that I only have an empty licked bowl to show for it!”

This is one of our family favorites. It’s easy, it’s quick, it’s delicious! Oh, and it makes a big ol’ pot of soup. Thanks to my dear friend Teri, who gave me this recipe years ago! (except I may have changed it?!)

So I basically throw this all in a pot and bring to a simmer. Cook until warmed through and the beans are soft, but not mushy. Also works great in a crock pot! Just leave the beans for the last 10-15 minutes so they don’t get mushy. We like to eat it over cooked elbow noodles. It is also good over tortilla chips. Whatever you do, top it with shredded cheese and sour cream. Please, I’m begging you.

This cold weather just makes me want to curl up with a good book and a hot bowl of soup. But with three boys running around and a bazillion loads of laundry staring at me, I will have to settle for scarfing down a bowl between laundry loads and light saber battles.

So here are some of our favorite soups to get you through these cold months ahead. They can be frozen and saved for another meal so double the recipe and you’ll have dinner on hand for the days when you just can’t get away from the laundry long enough to make something for dinner!

Buffalo Chicken Soup
Even my kids love this soup, but if yours are not fans of spicy foods, leave them out a portion of the soup before you add the hot sauce. It’s not the healthiest soup recipe, but for an occasional football Sunday, it just doesn’t get any better!

Heat oil and add potatoes and onions. Cook 5 minutes, add garlic, bay leaves and kale. Cover pot and wilt greens, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add beans, tomatoes and broth and bring to a full boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook 5-10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Tortellini and Zucchini Soup
My kids don’t even care that they are eating soup filled with veggies, it’s just plain yummy!

Heat oil. Add carrots and onion, cook till soft. Add garlic and rosemary, cook about one minute. Stir in broth and zucchini, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until zucchini is soft. Add tortellini and tomatoes and cook about 6-10 minutes. Stir in vinegar just before serving.

I have so many more recipes for soups, and still on the prowl for more healthy ones. Most of our favorite soups are very fattening, creamy soups! So please share your favorite soup recipes in the comments, especially if they have a healthy kick!